As a result of long time colonisation and trade, the city of Semarang in Indonesia has a large stock of built heritage that share a history with the Netherlands. The Dutch colonial buildings, left to decay have become a backdrop for tourists and feed into the 'insta culture' sweeping the current decade. At the same time the city suffers deeply from a neglected river, Kali Semarang, and lack of accessibility to water. How can we confront the current issues of water, waste and neglected built heritage? The idea that we are all connected, spatially, politically, environmentally and by memory and so on are confronted while finding solutions to empower the communities, and provide better access to a basic human right; water.